Hi we are planning our trip at the mo and are travelling to China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Oz, Cook Islands or Fiji (not sure which one yet), and the USA.
We will be applying for our Chinese visa prior to departure, do we apply for the rest before we go or can we get these all at border crossings?
Thanks
Val
Reply to this Depend which passport you are holding actually. But if if have a European passport.
Vietnam, easy to apply in HK, Shanghai or Beijing, but can take some time. If you head for HK, you may need a double entry chinese visa if you go overland.
Laos, at the border.
Cambodia, at the border
Thailand/Malaysia, depend on how long you want to stay, may not need a visa.
Australia, you may not need a visa, same point for Fiji and Cooks. US, same point, 90 days is the norm at border.
Reply to this We applied for our visa's as we traveled. When in Thailand, we were trying to get one for Vietnam and it took longer than we expected. There is some advantage to having it in advance if you know when you will be there.
Our experience was that none of them were hard to get but took time out of your day to obtain.
Reply to this Hi, thanks for replies, we both hold British passports and are planning the following route :- 12 month trip, flying into Beijing then 1 month travelling through china, 1 month vietnam (prob have 2 entries here, as will go to Laos then back to Vietnam),2 weeks laos, 1 month cambodia, 5 months thailand, 1 month malaysia, 6 weeks oz, 2 weeks cook islands or fiji, 2 weeks in the states, then back to UK.
I believe with Thailand your visa entitles you to a 2 months stay however you can extend this by exiting the country and re-entering twice,therefore you can stay for 6 montsh, that is what I understand from what I have read anyway. If anyone knows anything about this I would be grateful.....
Reply to this You will not need to get a Visa for the U.S before you go provided you are eligible for Visa Waiver (British passports, no prior crimes, should be fine).
You WILL need to fill out the online
ESTA form prior to arriving at the border though. From what I gather this form is rather quick, but not doing so can delay you.
Reply to this For Vietnam, to my latest and recent info, they still don't do double entry visa. You will need either a 3 months multi entry business visa, costing around 150usd, or applying twice for single entry visa costing each around 60usd. These prices are for picking up with 4 working days.
For Thailand, if you can provide airlines bookings (not specially tickets), they have a new double or triple entry visa. Each will allow 60 days in the country and will need you to leave the country. Once you have the visa, you can leave the country by land. Used to be free, but cost now around 30 euros per entry. These are for picking up the day after you apply.
Reply to this Regarding Vietnam visa, we will be entering via train from Nanning, China.
You mention we can get our visa in major cities you mentioned, we will be in Beijing for a week or so at the start of our trip, therefore 4 weeks prior to entering Vietnam - can we apply for our visa then or is that too early?
Reply to this I was pleased with the online service provided by VietnamVisa.org. I did everything online, including paying, and was able to pick up my visa upon arrival at the HCHC/Saigon airport. A lot of other passenger were also doing the same thing. I'm not sure how it works for arriving overland, but you could ask them.
Reply to this There are a lot of reliable companies for the Vietnam visa on arrival letter. It's convenient but isn't valid for many overland entries so you would have to check that you can do it crossing from China into Vietnam overland.
Myvietnamvisa is the one my parents used when they came over.
Check how long it will take for the visa in Beijing. It can take 5 working days, which obviously doesn't include the weekend.
Reply to this Regarding Vietnam visa, we will be entering via train from Nanning, China.
Hi,
we did this trip only a couple of weeks ago... It's really easy to get Vietnamese Visas in Nanning and your
hostel will probably do it for you for no extra charge/commision. Well ours did. It cost 380 Yuan (~£38) for a 1 month tourist visa with a three day turnaround. Pay more to get it quicker. We didn't as although there's not a whole lot to do in Nanning, we were cool with just hanging out at the hostel with other travellers.
here's the prices:
- 380 RMB three business days
- 480 RMB two business days
- 580 RMB same day service
Consulate is only open on business days from Monday to Friday.
Our friend got a 1 month multiple entry visa (he's going back to the UK for a wedding) for 550 Yuan (£55) pretty easily with no extra documentation needed. As for other visas, like a 3 month business visa I can't comment as we didn't get one, but I'm sure they'd help if they can.
From Nanning it was a straightforward 9 hour bus ride to Hanoi, pretty easy to do, with changing of buses at the border. Otherwise there is an overnight train, but I'm not sure of any of the details of that, other than the border crossing is in the middle of the night.
Hope any of this helps...
Mike.
[Edited: 2011 May 18 06:56 - MichaelnFaye:21816 ]
Reply to this 
